FISH AND GAME POACHING.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 April 1934, Page 9

FISH AND GAME POACHING.

CONVICTIONS HARD TO OBTAIN. RANGERS TO BE POSTED. The depredations' of .'trout.'poachers in stocked streams was fully discussed at the annual meeting of the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society last night. The president, Mr. W. H. Moyes, said he knew of one poacher who was reported to have caught as many as 50 fish in a night. Another member .stated that he had recently greatly enjoyed 'dinner at a farmhouse where a certain poacher regularly supplied the household with trout. The difficulty of obtaining convictions lay in the fact that very few men were willing to take action against a neighbour because of -the il-feeling engendered. ' ■ . A member of the society . who is a doctor related that he had once had cause the lay information "against an affluent patient. “Now,” he said ruefully, “I am afraid the gentlemen would very much rather die than call me!” It was suggested that if information were merely laid privately with the society when a poaching expedition was known to be coming off, it might not be necessary for anyone to take action against his neighbour in the district. Mr. A. E. Maetzig: I see. Your fellows catch our fellows and our fellows catch your fellows! (Laughter). No decision to launch a campaign to the death against poachers was reached, but rangers will; be instructed to do all in their power to prevent the wholesale poaching of fish and to obtain convictions wherever possible. In addition they will be posted as to the advisability of keeping a very sharp look-out for “sportsmen” tempted to anticipate the opening of the pheasant season.